HOMES FIRST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25660, 7 October 1944, Page 8

HOMES FIRST

REBUILDING NATIONAL" LIFE; A GREAT MORAL ISSUE “ Those who desire to see a cathedral erected in Wellington as soon ,as possible after the war must be: prepared to wait till such headway has been made with the building of; houses that men and materials, can be released for other great national tasks Bishop of Wellington,' the Right Rev;/ H. St. Barbe Holland, in the current issue of the diocesaq: journal. Church . and People. ■ • 1 - “There will be unanimity on the part of all reasonable men that the, housing of the people must take pre--.- ; . cedence,” he says. l!An ordered social, life cannot be restored while married -, couples have to .face the misery of living in a wretched rented room at ,- an exorbitant cost. Roofs and hearths and'living'space must be provided:for. gjl " j .? . ’ ' . “As the Christian looks at the situa- - tion, he knows also that a great moral issue is at stake. It is homes and not only houses which are needed; homes and not * dormitories attached;-; to -a .- garage.’ The rebuilding of family life is the surest way to the rebuilding-of the world’s life. Such rebuilding on t. the one hand cannot take place unless*, ihe 'State bendS all its energies using-all-its war-time ingenuity in collecting; the needed materials, towards makings possible;the erection .of‘houses. But,; on the other- hand!" houses can only become homes when.-a'new sense of,/ , the joy and sacredness of the creation;, of a family touches the imagination of:, our young- citizens. '> “The problem is no easy one. Itsf, material and its spiritual aspects are. interlocked. Will the provision ofi small three-roomed houses act as a; t check on the birth-rate? Will the pro-.* vision of five-roomed houses ensure a s rising birth-rate? -No one: can /answer Jr.--.-,, these questions. But it. remains a » national duty so,- truly to combine faith and common sense that these questions will ultimately cease .to, have - any relevance. 1 God speed the ptough \- is the first prayer which will rise to our lips in the midst . of. a . .world ‘ shortage of food;' ‘ God speed the hammer and the saw’ is a prayer which | : will closely follow in a world which t- ■ must have: homes if it is to have a/ •peace which is worth the name ” -